Saturday, April 17, 1999 Published at 18:09 GMT 19:09 UKWorld: EuropeEthnic cleansing 'will not succeed'Refugees shelter from the storms under plastic sheetsNato says Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will not succeed in cleansing Kosovo of all ethnic Albanians, despite a major new exodus of refugees.

A further 200,000 people are believed to be making their way towards the borders. And the United Nations says it fears there will soon be no ethnic Albanians left in the Serbian province.

In another development, the United States is holding a Yugoslav army officer as a prisoner of war following his capture by the Kosovo Liberation Army.

And Nato's supreme commander for Europe, General Wesley Clark, has warned Mr Milosevic that the allies will destroy him if he does not change his policies.

Nato spokesman Jamie Shea accused the Serbs of renewing a "no mercy policy" against Kosovo Albanians, increasing efforts to expel them from the province.

But he added: ''I personally do not believe that Milosevic is going to succeed in throwing everybody out before we stop him.''

Although refugees were safer outside Kosovo, Mr Shea said Nato did not want Albanians to leave the province.

''It is essential for the future of Kosovo that a certain number of people are able to stay there,'' he added. ''Our aim will be to do everything we possibly can to stop the violence before the last Albanian is pushed across the frontier.''

And he insisted the ethnic cleansing would be reversed in the long run with all refugees being returned.

Atrocities

Mr Shea said there was mounting evidence of mass graves in the province - a very rough calculation indicated 3,200 people had been killed in the last few weeks.

The exodus continued as Nato launched Operation Allied Harbour to help refugees in Albania. The force, which will number more than 7,000 troops, will fly people from the border to safer areas near the coast.

'Milosevic losing'

On Saturday, General Clark flew to the region for talks with Macedonian and Albanian leaders.

He said Mr Milosevic was losing the conflict against Nato forces which would "destroy everything that (he) values" unless he complied with international demands.

But the Yugoslav Government has rejected a new five-point peace plan put forward by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.